Attorney Lanny J. Davis retained to lead public-information effort promoting accurate analysis of offshore-trust case law and lawful family asset planning
MIAMI, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group, legal experts in the area of international trust planning, today announced a national public-information campaign to help families understand the appropriate and lawful use of foreign asset protection trusts. The two law firms have asked Washington, D.C., attorney and former White House Special Counsel Lanny J. Davis to lead the campaign, which will seek to correct the public record where offshore trusts have been inaccurately portrayed and to provide prospective clients and their advisers with documented information about legitimate, advance asset-protection planning.
The United States has a highly active litigation environment. In response, some families choose to structure certain financial and estate-planning arrangements under the laws of other countries. When established in advance and used in accordance with applicable law, these arrangements may help protect family assets from future unknown or improper claims, including claims that could threaten assets intended for spouses, children, and future generations. The campaign will explain the important legal distinction between advance planning through an independently administered trust and unlawful efforts to evade an existing creditor, judgment, court order, or reporting obligation. It will also emphasize why attorneys must examine the underlying facts and holdings of cited cases meticulously before characterizing them as failures of foreign asset protection trusts.
A foreign asset protection trust (FAPT) is established outside the United States, commonly in jurisdictions such as the Cook Islands (see here), and may be used as part of lawful family estate planning, subject to applicable law. The campaign is intended to reassure families that properly formed, timely funded, independently administered trusts should not be confused with cases involving late transfers, retained control, misconduct, fraudulent conveyances, or violations of court orders.
As one example of material warranting careful review, Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group cite a chart published by Nevada estate-planning attorney Steve Oshins titled "45 FAPT Cases Gone Wrong." According to an analysis of that published case-by-case chart by Blake Harris Law, some entries in that chart did not involve foreign trusts, and not a single cited case involved the failure, on the merits, of a properly structured offshore trust. The analysis also found that Mr. Oshins's chart counted the same case as if it were two separate failures: In re Brooks and Sattin v. Brooks concern the same underlying bankruptcy but were listed separately.
After Harris publicly requested a correction, Mr. Oshins wrote that he had removed the chart from his prior postings. Blake Harris Law is also asking that Mr. Oshins's related Leimberg Information Services Asset Protection Planning Newsletter #450, which lists 29 purportedly failed foreign asset protection trust cases, be reviewed and that any entries or other materials he and others have disseminated that are shown to be inaccurate, duplicative, or unrelated to foreign trusts be corrected.
For Davis, the campaign's broader purpose is to ensure that families and their advisers can make informed decisions based on accurate descriptions of the law and the underlying court records.
"Families should not be discouraged from considering legitimate and lawful planning because foreign asset protection trusts have been broadly mischaracterized," Davis said. "Accurate legal analysis matters because families may rely on these materials when deciding how to protect assets intended for spouses, children, and future generations."
Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group sent a letter asking Mr. Oshins to review the remaining publication and correct any inaccuracies.
Blake Harris Law's case-by-case analysis, source citations, and supporting materials are available at TheFactsAboutOffshoreTrusts.com.
About Blake Harris Law
Blake Harris Law focuses exclusively on offshore asset protection and serves clients worldwide. BlakeHarrisLaw.com
About Verdon Law Group
Verdon Law Group, LLP advises families and business owners in the United States and abroad on asset protection, wealth preservation, and estate planning. VerdonLawGroup.com
Media Contact
Jennifer Gross, Evolutionary Media Group, 1 323-646-8412, [email protected], www.emgpr.com
SOURCE Evolutionary Media Group
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